Our First Songs
13. The Summerchild

Here is our second audio-story (the first one was The Bird Restaurant on "Our Day Out"). Remember to click on the audio clip symbol to hear the first minutes of "The Summerchild":

Once upon a time there was a village high up in the mountains. The name of this village was Summerfield, and it was very small. It only had one shop, a post office, a small police station, a fire station, a doctor's office and a small school next to a big park.

The village was named Summerfield, because of its beautiful summers, which started in May and lasted until mid-October. During these summers it was always warm and the sun shone ever day. The soft breeze blew through the fields and you could here the bees humming around the fruit trees in the gardens. Sometimes it rained at night, but come morning the sun was out again, and the birds were singing in the branches of the trees. It was beautiful.

On the other hand, the winters in Summerfield were very cold, and it snowed every day. The fields and the houses were always covered in snow and from each chimney you could see the smoke rising from the wood fires inside. Sometimes the children made snowmen and igloos and they always had snowball fights.

There was a little girl named Isabella who lived with her grandfather in a little house on the mountain side. They had a farm with chickens, two horses, and one cow. Isabella had to feed the animals every morning. Then she would walk to school. Sometimes she walked with her friends but sometimes she walked alone, and on these days she would sing.

Isabella didn't like the cold winters, and she always asked her grandfather if she could stay at home, but he always said,

"Isabella, you have to go to school, so that you can learn. Now off you go or you will be late. Here is your coat and your scarf."
"But it is so cold Grandfather."
"Go Isabella."
Off she would go through the snow.

One Winter's day it was really cold and the snow was very high. The wind was blowing the snow all over the mountain side.

"Grandfather, the snow is so deep and the wind is so cold. Can I stay home and help you today? Please."
"No Isabella, you go to school. All the other children have to go too."
"But maybe the school is closed today, because there is so much snow."
"No, the school isn't closed, so off you go, or you will be late"

So Isabella started on her way to school. On the way she passed by many gardens with fruit trees covered in snow. There were apple trees, and apricot trees and in some of the gardens there were big old cherry trees. There was one garden which belonged to Mr. Sampson. It was a very big garden with a lot of fruit trees. As Isabella was passing it, she suddenly stopped. In the garden she saw something very strange. All the trees in Mr. Sampson's garden were under a blanket of snow, all except for one tree. It was an apple tree, and it was full of fresh green leaves.

....

How could it happen that there are leaves on the trees in mid-winter? What will Isabella do? So many question - and all of them are answered in the full story.